Pre-teen’s finger almost severed on Easter Show ride

When Isabella Micucci visited the Royal Sydney Easter Show in NSW for what should have been a day of fun, it turned into a parent's worst nightmare.

There with her vacation care group, Isabella, then 12, had broken off with a friend to seek out the sideshow rides, clambering into the straight row of seats as they waited for the staff to latch down the metal bar that would hold them in.

"I was so excited that I didn’t realise that I had placed my hand on the lock system that connected the bar to the seats," Isabella told 9Honey.

"All of a sudden a staff member had pulled the safety bar down and I saw my finger crushed in-between the bar and the lock."

Her finger needed immediate surgery and was in a cast for three months. (Supplied)

Isabella immediately began to scream for help, her pinkie finger locked in the mechanism until staff could release it, at which point it had been almost severed.

She was rushed to an on-site medical team who advised Isabella be moved to hospital immediately for major surgery, her vacation care supervisor driving Isabella there while her parents were called.

"I had to wait all night to have the surgery on my finger and I was in a lot of pain," Isabella said.

Throughout the long night, Isabella was plagued with fears for her future; an avid dancer, she worried losing her finger could mean the end of her dreams of turning her passion into a career.

She also struggled with the possibility of being "disfigured" by the injury and feared how her peers could react.

Fortunately doctors were able to save her finger, but the trauma it had suffered left Isabella with limited mobility in her hand, crippling her ability to perform in the dance studio and at school.

"I began to see my grades drop because I was struggling to write my assignments and to undertake tests in classes," she explained.

"I also fell behind with my hip hop dance crew because I couldn't perform for months and was unable to perform a variety of the dance moves that I once was able to do."

Lawyer Robert Bryden helped Isabella and her family claim compensation. (Supplied)

Heartbroken, the young teen began closing herself off from her friends and family as she found herself being held back from the things she had always loved, and began to fall into a deep depression.

It was around this time her family was contacted by lawyer Robert Bryden, who hoped to win compensation for Isabella's injury, to help her deal with the ongoing issues.

"Children’s cases are different as we’re dealing with not just the one person who was injured, but the whole family network is involved," Bryden explained to 9Honey.

"Kids are resilient, so we work together with the child and both parents to explain the process."

He guided with the Micucci family through the process of claiming compensation, and though Isabella said that having to recount her harrowing experience was uncomfortable, she felt Bryden and his team "always had [her] best interests at heart".

Eventually the family won a significant settlement, but for Isabella the focus was more on physical and emotional recovery than the claim itself.

Now Isabella is pursuing a new musical passion through singing. (Supplied)

After the injury Isabella underwent months of physical therapy and, two years later, has regained some mobility in her hand, but her injured finger is still very stiff and continues to impact her ability to dance, though her passion is still there.

Now 14, she knows that the injury will give her problems for the rest of her life, doctors warning her that arthritis will begin to flare up in that finger eventually, but she has found ways to perform around it.

Having used music as an outlet for her emotions as she dealt with her injury, Isabella is now an avid singer and has "embraced the world" through her newfound musical passion.